1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector with a connector housing to which a wire cover is attached.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, some connectors to be used for automobile wiring harnesses each include a lock arm for keeping the connector and a corresponding connector mated to each other (see JP 7-57818 A and JP 2008-27691 A). A conventional example of the connector of this kind is shown in FIGS. 1 to 3B.
In FIGS. 1 to 3B, a connector hF3ousing 51 of a connector includes: a corresponding housing mating chamber 52 open on the housing front side; a lock arm 53 configured to lock a corresponding housing (not illustrated) which is mated to the corresponding housing mating chamber 52; a wire extraction part 54 configured to guide and extract wires (not illustrated) from the housing rear to the outside; and an arm excessive displacement prevention part 55 provided projectingly upward from the wire extraction part 54.
Terminal housing parts 56 configured to house multiple terminals (not illustrated) are projectingly provided in the corresponding housing mating chamber 52.
The lock arm 53 includes: a lock part 53a positioned inside the corresponding housing mating chamber 52; and an arm operation part 53b positioned on the housing rear side. While a corresponding connector housing (not illustrated) is not inserted in the corresponding housing mating chamber 52, the lock arm 53 is situated in a lock position shown in FIG. 3A. As shown in FIG. 3A, the lock part 53a has an inclined surface (tapered surface) which faces the terminal housing parts 56. The inclined surface inclines in the insertion direction of the corresponding connector housing in such a way as to become closer to the terminal housing parts 56. An opening part 51a is formed in the connector housing 51 on the upper surface side of the arm operation part 53b. Workers can press down the arm operation part 53b by use of this opening part 51a. By pressing down the arm operation part 53b, the lock arm 53 can be displaced from the lock position (the position shown in FIG. 3A) to the lock release position (the position shown in FIG. 3B) by elastic deformation.
For connector mating with the foregoing configuration, first of all, the corresponding connector housing (not illustrated) is inserted into the corresponding housing mating chamber 52. During the insertion, a front end portion of the corresponding connector housing comes into contact with the inclined surface of the lock part 53a, and the lock part 53a is subsequently pressed up toward a side surface of the corresponding housing mating chamber 52 in response to the insertion of the corresponding connector housing. When the corresponding connector housing is inserted up to the mating completion position, a locked part (not illustrated) of the corresponding connector housing reaches a position corresponding to the lock part 53a. Once the locked part reaches the position, the lock arm 53 returns to the lock position, and the lock part 53a is locked to the locked part (not illustrated) of the corresponding connector housing. Thereby, the two connector housings are locked together in the mated state.
For the release of the connector mating, the lock arm 53 is moved to the lock release position by pressing down the arm operation part 53b, and the corresponding connector housing (not illustrated) is pulled out of the corresponding housing mating chamber 52.
An advantage of the above-described connector housing 51 is that the connector housing 51 is capable of securely holding the connector mating since the connector housing 51 includes the lock arm 53. Another advantage of the connector housing 51 is that the arm excessive displacement prevention part 55 prevents the lock arm 53 from being excessively displaced.